This Tuesday, the Government launched a set of six post-fire soil stabilization actions, which will be carried out in the municipalities of Monchique and Silves by the end of January.
Seven candidacies from local authorities and forestry producers have already been approved, who will receive 1,4 million to carry out the same work, well below the 3,4 million that were requested.
Secretary of State for Forests and Rural Development Miguel Freitas was today at Herdade da Talhadinha, in Silves, to attend on the spot to the first soil stabilization works, after the fire that started in Monchique and spread to the neighboring municipalities of Silves – also very affected -, Portimão and Odemira.
In this case, the operations are being coordinated by the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) and involve «all Civil Protection forces», according to Miguel Freitas.
Nature watchers, forest sappers, GNR GIPS military and Special Fire Force operatives joined forces to clear "about 200 hectares" of burned land in August. Actions include «cutting burned wood and destroying it, for spreading it, in order to protect the soil and creating barriers, to protect against erosion and water lines».
On the other hand, it will be tested in Silves, «in areas of more difficult access, aerial seeding, in three areas, with a total of 500 hectares. This action will be carried out during the second half of January».
The operations that have already started will serve as a «demonstration of what is coming next», namely the interventions that will be carried out, in parallel, by the municipalities, by the Parish Councils and by the Association of Forestry Producers of the Barlavento Algarvio (Aspoflobal).
For these seven “larger scale” interventions, the Government approved support of 1,4 million, 100% non-repayable. But this is a value well below the one requested by the proponents, which totaled 3,4 million euros.
“We held a meeting on Friday with all the bidders and we reconciled everything with them. What happened was that there was an overlapping of actions in the candidacies. In other words, there were candidacies that had three and four similar actions for the same territory», explained Miguel Freitas.
Even so, two actions can be approved for the same terrain if they are reconcilable, such as “destroying and creating barriers”.
"But if they want to make rules and barriers, these two situations cannot both be approved, because they have exactly the same effect," added the member of the Government.
"At the same time, there was an overlap with the applications submitted to the Environmental Fund for the protection of the hydrographic network", which has an amount of 1,1 million available, he added.
In all, there is thus "2,5 million euros to carry out emergency stabilization of soils and watercourses."
An amount that, in the view of Emídio Vidigal, president of Aspoflobal, “is insufficient” to cover the real costs of the candidate operations.
"The Government is making an effort, this is a good initiative, from a technical point of view, and the Secretary of State is showing his face, but here we are painting a rosy scenario that does not exist" , considered Emídio Vidigal.
According to the association leader, “the money available is not enough to cover a third of what is needed. In my opinion, there will be no field work. The millions that may come may come. We don't have contractors who agree to spend 2 euros to earn a thousand," he said.
The fact that the reference budget provided for in the law for this type of operations is far below what the actions actually cost, in areas with the orography of the Serra de Monchique, had already been highlighted by the mayor of Monchique.
Rui André pondered, even, do not come forward with any application., this being one of the main reasons for the mayor's reluctance. Still Monchique ended up presenting a project, but did not receive the full amount requested.
Miguel Freitas guaranteed that the candidacies included the possibility of increasing the amounts foreseen, as long as they are justified. At Friday's meeting, "the Chamber of Monchique was unable to justify the amounts it asked for," he assured.
Photos: Hugo Rodrigues|Sul Informação
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